Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Knife question for the honest amongst us.

Here's a favorite of mine:

quote=JSTUART]


I posted this thread as I like to see what is getting used hard, not what is used and salted away in a drawer and dragged out for pics.

I find that more interesting than looking at new shiny toys.[/quote]

I've been infatuated with edged instruments, seems like forever. First time I can remember getting into major trouble, I "borrowed" a knife from the Policeman's garage next door to my house during an occasion when my uncle was "exterminating" I think I was six or seven. It's only been the last 20 years or so that I could afford to become a collector/user. A part of that was that I drove the same ford truck for 17 years and had no monthly note. During that time, my tastes have evolved in regards to type of steel and blade shape.

So yes, I am guilty.

But the actual order is acquire, take pix, use, take more pix, then salt away for use on another occasion should I so desire.

Quite a few I've used some several times!

A Kingfisher by Gene Ingram. Asked him to use A2 Steel. He chose the Desert Ironwood scales.









I like A2 Steel, and etched A2 as it does not develop the marked patina.

I've slowed down over the last few years but between say 2004 and 2019 I would put a conservative estimate on the number of deer, hogs and aoudad I skin each year at +/- 50. That does not include fish, coons, coyote, turkey, dove, ducks etc.

It’s amazing how quick a super-steel knife can be dulled on one muddy hog.






I’ve had cases where I’ve used three or more knives on one hog. It’s like cutting concrete.

Anywho,

I'd be willing to be most folks use their EDC harder than their "hunting' knives"

Here are two that get used daily



VinceM (The Knifefather) hafted them for me.


A Boker Top Lock Auto Conversion I carried dayly for a dozen years before it up and disappeared. Probably opened at least 3,000 Negra Modelo bottles during that time.




Just fer schitz n giggles, perhaps you might define what you consider hard use of a knife used for hunting.

Quien Sabe,

GWB

For shits and giggles...why fucking not!


That knife you saw in my original post was used for five years processing kangaroos in the paddock at night...I shot and processed roos for fifteen years in the Riverina...that was my sole source of income.

No pissy pretend...just hard dirty work by myself with no help, best night was 95 processed...by me...with that knife.

So forgive me if I seem unimpressed with pretty shiny things.

Haha ^^^ WINNER!

And no...I most certainly do not miss the work.


Added. Oh, and that is not blood on the orange plastic handle...that is staining that has gone through in to the plastic, The clean-ish parts were worn smooth by my hands.

How them roos taste?

Why did you take the tails?

I like that blade profile a lot as an all around workhorse hunting knife.

10 to 14 kilo red buck or doe is excellent roasted, wouldn't touch anything larger, eastern does are okay up to about 14 kilos but they get worse from there...don't bother with westerns or big bucks as they taste like crap.

Now take a wild guess what we sold for human consumption...yep, the biggest buggers we could find. And the clueless townies couldn't get enough.

We just killed wallabies for the farmers dogs.

Generally we left them in the paddock unless there was an order for either the cosmetics industry (collagen), or one of the tribal councils wanted some for consumption

I have quite a few knives .. more than I truly have opportunities to use and "push". The constant across a lot of years has been a Gerber LST folder with about a 2-1/2 to 2-3/4 inch blade. It's my "ring the anus and cut loose the diaphragm" knife. Also gets used for gutting trout the rest of the year. I've worn out a half dozen. Not sure I'll buy another, the steel seems to have gone downhill in the past decade or so.

The other knives that I've used quite a bit have gone by the wayside. 30 years ago when I was guiding (fishing) and rowing a lot my wrists were a lot stronger. I could handle a lot longer blade for more time without fatigue. Now I like a smaller knife. Also lighter in my pack. Instead of the ol' Buck General for cutting throats, splitting rib cages, skinning, etc, I first went through a decade with a rubber handled Buck Vanguard (plain blade, no gut hook) which I "processed" quite a few deer with, but since then I switched first to a Cold Steel Master Hunter, then almost immediately a Benchmade Steep Country. I haven't had a chance to use the Benchmade on a critter but everything tells me it will work. 3-1/2 inch fixed blade, about 4 ounces including the sheath. It will do all I need. (The cold steel knife still lives in my truck during hunting season as a backup.)

In some ways we make way too much of this knife vs that knife. Like rifles. Someone who knows what they're doing will look at the knife that's handy, the job that needs doing, and figure out a way to make the most of what the knife has to offer while avoiding its weaknesses. The indian is more important than the arrow.

Tom

You are right Tom...my Randalls are boy jewellery...that cheap Mora of mine is my work horse.

Just for the fun of it.


I am 5' 10 1/2"...bloody big hole to find yourself in when you turn on the lights and all you see out of the windscreen is dirt...for six months after that every time I hit a hole in the paddock my arse did it's best to choke me.
Definitely left an impression.






And this last picture is of my brother Martin who came for a run with me, Martin never shot roos for a dollar...but he did shoot camels for money when he had no work shearing.

So yes Geedub...this is my idea of hard use.

It may interest some to know that the knife in this picture was a 6" F Dick boner, I used them for the first thirty thousand or so roos I shot and had no issues at all with the blade length...most of the roo shooters around here use 6" blades and have no issues with blade length being unwieldy.

In point of fact the 6" blade was better than the shorter blade when a roo head was hit too far back as it allowed one to hack through the shattered skull or neck bones with relative ease.
Made no difference when knuckling them though.

Damn that made me laugh... THANKS...

Never thought about kangaroo killing and meat as a source of income... NEVER...

I used to commercial fish Alaska... long line to halibut and Sable fish... same kinda volume processing (day and night as needed). Working knives only.

As for the upset truck... priceless... West Virginia dozier roads get sporty also... problem is, if you go off the Stopping Part is not 8 feet away...

I think you would fit in up here... but sorry... no roos.

My go to knife is an AG Russell One-hand folder in AUS-8 steel.